Release information

This product is derived from the Free/Open Source Software made
available by Red Hat, Inc but IS NOT produced, maintained or supported
by Red Hat. Specifically, this product is forked from the source
code for Red Hat's _Red Hat Enterprise Linux_ products under the
terms and conditions of its EULA.

There may be remaining packaging problems and other odd bugs. These are
solely the responsibility of the White Box Linux effort and should not
in any shape, manner or form reflect on the quality of Red Hat's
commercial product. In fact, if you need a fully tested and supported
OS you probably should go buy their box set.

A fair amount of effort has gone into removing Red Hat's trademarks
and logos. Should you find one remaining, please report it so that it
can be removed. Write me about this and any other problems at
jmorris@beau.org.
Or join the devel list and dive in!

What is the goal for White Box Linux?

To provide an unencumbered RPM based Linux distribution that retains
enough compatibility with Red Hat Linux to allow easy upgrades and to
retain compatibility with their Errata srpms. Being based off of RHEL3
means that a machine should be able to avoid the upgrade treadmill
until Oct 2008 since RHEL promises Errata availability for five years
from date of initial release and RHEL3 shipped in Oct 2003.

Or more briefly, to fill the gap between Fedora and RHEL.

Why was White Box Linux created?

White Box Linux's initial creation has been sponsored by the
Beauregard Parish Public Library
in DeRidder, LA USA out of self interest. We have several servers and
over fifty workstations running Red Hat Linux and were left high and dry
by their recent shift in business plan. Our choices were a difficult
migration to another distribution or paying RedHat an annual fee greater
than the amortized value of our hardware. So we chose a third path, made
possible by the power of Open Source.... White Box Linux.

What can you do to help?

Download and install White Box. Poke it in unexpected places and
see what breaks. Report problems so they can get fixed. As with all
Open Source efforts, bug reports are good, patches are better still.

I only speak English and only have access to ia32 hardware.
(Update 04/04/30: I now have an Athlon64 build host and am working toward
an AMD64 release) So help with getting the other languages re-translated and
porting to Itanic/PPC/etc are welcome. (Personally I'm not interested in
porting to IBM big iron. If you can afford that lease, just BUY RHEL.)

EULA

This software is believed to be freely redistributable under the terms
of the Free/Open Source licenses of each of it's components. However,
to the maximum extent allowed by the laws of the United States and the
State of Louisiana, the Beauregard Parish Library disclaims any and all
responsibility for this product. It is your responsibility to determine
the suitability of this product for your intended purpose and the legality
of using, modifying and reproducing it in your jurisdiction.

"Red Hat" and the Red Hat "Shadowman" logo are registered trademarks
of Red Hat, Inc. "Linux" is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.